Pages

Friday, January 31, 2014

Confession time: The idea for this recipe is actually the result of me taking one of those silly online quizzes. They're stupid, but somehow, you can't resist because you simply HAVE to know, what kind of pie are you? I mean, how could you live life NOT knowing that.

I'm a cherry pie. Apparently I'm 'the perfect combo of innocent and sexy' well now, I like the sound of that! If you'd like getting free compliments then you can find out what kind of pie you are here.

But back to baking. I love pie, but I despise soggy pastry - nobody likes a soggy bottom (snigger snigger!). Which is why I've got a pastry recipe for you that my special friend Zola shared with me. In her words 'This pastry has literally changed lives'. She's probably right (although I'm hoping she doesn't read this 'cos I'll never hear the end of it!). But this pastry doesn't need rolling out, it doesn't need blind baking and it doesn't need fussing with. How cool is that?! Fill the pastry with sticky-sweet cherries then top it with clouds of fluffy meringue and a sprinkling of almonds and you'll be swooning. The flavours are just incredible together, not to mention the fact that creating it really is easy as pie (sorry, couldn't resist!)

Cream
the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until
combined. Add the flour and baking powder to form a dough. Press into a greased
22cm pie dish and bake at 180C for 30 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Combine
the cherries, lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat
and cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved. Mix the
cornflour with 1 tbsp cold water then add to the cherry mixture. Cook, stirring
for a few minutes until thickened. Stir in the almond flavouring. Spoon the
slightly cooled cherry filling into the baked pastry case. Whisk
the egg whites until soft peak stage then gradually add the sugar. Beat until
stiff and the sugar is dissolved. Spoon or pipe the meringue onto the cherry filling,
sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake at 190C until the meringue and almonds
are golden brown. Serve with fresh cherries and whipped cream if desired.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Carbs, chocolate AND sugar all wrapped up in a sugary cinnamony (that's totally a word) crust and twisted together with toasted hazelnuts? This, my foodie friends, is surely what heaven tastes like. And smells like, because the aromas that waft from your oven will certainly make you friends! This bread smelled so good, I fanned myself with the oven in the hopes that the spicy chocolatey-ness would cling to me and act as a delicious perfume. I wish I was kidding, but I'm not.

But back to the bread. It's super easy and versatile. If you want to swop out the Nutella (why on earth would you want to do that?!) then you could spread the dough with thick custard or stick to the simple cinnamon sugar. Go nuts with the nuts and use almonds, pecans, walnuts - whatever your heart desires. And don't be fooled by those intricate-looking twists - this bread is dead easy to make. Almost as easy as eating it!

Chocolate hazelnut twist

Serves
8-10

3
cups cake flour

1
tsp salt

¼
cup sugar

60g
butter or margarine, softened

10
g instant yeast

1
large egg, beaten

½
cup lukewarm water

1
cup chocolate hazelnut spread (ie. Nutella)

3
tbsp sugar

2
tsp ground cinnamon

50g
hazelnuts, skinned and toasted

1
cup icing sugar, sifted

30-45ml
espresso or strong coffee

Preheat the oven to
180C. Combine the flour, salt and sugar then rub in the butter to form rough
breadcrumb texture. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the beaten egg
and just enough water to form a soft dough. Knead the dough by
hand for 10 minutes or with an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook
attachment. Place the dough in
a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to rest for 10
minutes. Roll the dough out
into a large rectangle about about 1/2cm thick. Spread a thin layer of
chocolate spread over the dough and leave a 1cm border around the edges.Mix the sugar and
cinnamon together and sprinkle over the chocolate along with the toasted
hazelnuts, pressing the nuts into the dough.Beginning at the
longest side of the rectangle, roll the dough into a long cylinder. Cut the
cylinder in half lengthwise down the middle and open it up to expose the
layers. Twist the two
pieces around each other to create a plait. Form into a ring on
a lined baking sheet, folding the ends under each other. Bake in the
preheated oven for about 1 hour or until golden brown and when tapped the bread
makes a hollow sound.Mix the icing sugar
and coffee together to form a smooth drizzling consistency then dribble the
icing over the slightly cooled wreath and serve.

Remember to hop on over to Facebook and like my page for recipes and sweet stuff. I also tweet about some cool things every now and then and Instagram my bakes (if I remember to snap them before I devour them!)

Sunday, January 26, 2014

They say muffins are just cupcakes without make-up on and if that's the case then my blueberry cheesecake version doesn't technically classify as a muffin... But muffins are a perfectly acceptable breakfast item which means you can safely get away with tucking into these before 11am without a guilty conscience. And the blueberries? Well, they're a superfood I'll have you know!

The muffins in question are made using a recipe by Stork Bake margarine and the fab people from their I love Baking SA page asked me to give it a test drive. I, of course, had to put my own decadent spin on it - you know, just to show how versatile it is. So of course, extra sugar and cream cheese were involved. The original recipe however is perfect for a kid-friendly lunchbox snack (considering we're still in the back-to-school swing of things). But smear the leftovers with creamy frosting and you have a moms-only version perfect for tea time!

The Lunchbox Blueberry Muffin

(that is, if there are still some left for lunchboxes and they haven't all been eaten still hot out the oven!)

This recipe is so dead easy, you need to be seriously skilled to make a flop of it, but just incase I've added a few of my own baking notes and comments in to help.

Blueberry
Muffins

Serves 8 (I got 18 regular-sized muffins from my batch)

125g fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen as they tend to have a better texture once baked. I also tossed the blueberries with a little flour to stop them all sinking to the bottom of the muffin)120g Stork Bake margarine (the recipe doesn't specify so I melted the Stork Bake)275g plain flour250ml skimmed milk100g sugar1 egg2 tsp vanilla essence1 tbsp baking powderPreheat the oven to 200°C and place paper cases into a muffin tin. In a first bowl, mix the egg with the
Stork Bake margarine, sugar and vanilla essence. In another bowl, mix the flour with the
milk and the baking powder. Add the egg/margarine mixture in the
flour mixture and stir in well. (I used the standard method of making muffins and combined all my dry ingredients together then all my wet ingredients and added the wet to the dry, mixing until the batter was just combined.Careful not to overstir or you'll get tough muffins. Nobody likes a tough muffin.)Finally stir in theblueberries and pour
the preparation in the prepared muffin tin. Bake the muffins for around 25 minutes or until the tops are springy to the touch.

Blueberry cheesecake muffins

(ie. blueberry muffins with make-up on)

The pimped-up version of the lunchbox muffin with a gooey blueberry centre and cream cheese frosting. Yum.

Blueberry cheesecake muffins

Makes 18

1 batch blueberry muffin batter (follow recipe above to just before the blueberries are added)

125g frozen blueberries

1/4 cup blueberry jam

Cheesecake frosting

100g Stork
Bake margarine, softened

400g icing
sugar

250g smooth full fat cream cheese

zest and
juice of 1 small lemon

1 tsp
vanilla extract

Extra
blueberries, to garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200°C and place paper cases into a muffin tin. Pour the plain muffin batter in the prepared
muffin tin, filling the cups halfway. Combine the blueberries with the blueberry jam then drop a small spoonful of
blueberry mixture in the middle of each muffin before adding in the remaining batter. Only fill the
cases ¾ full. Bake the muffins for around 25 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch. To make the frosting, cream the Stork
and icing sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the cream cheese,
zest, juice and extract. Frost the muffins with the icing and decorate with the fresh blueberries.

Remember to hop on over to Facebook and like my page for recipes and sweet stuff. I also tweet about some cool things every now and then and Instagram my bakes (if I remember to snap them before I devour them!)